Chapter 3 in the Teaching with Technology book looked at the evolution of technology in a group of classrooms in a study that involved adding technology into a certain number of classrooms. Although this chapter does not specifically call out the technology that was added included computers, printers, scanners, and other early 1990s classroom technology. There were five stages that the teachers and classes had to work through with the integration of this technology. (*one point I had to remember is that this technology was added in the 90s when technology was not a common thing in classrooms) The five stages were Entry, Adoption, Adaptation, Appropriation, and Invention. Entry was the initial introduction of the technology into the classroom including the unpacking and plugging in of the computers. This also included some brief software installation. Adoption is the initial use of the technology in the classroom. This stage is incredibly tough because most teachers tried to just use the technology to continue with their everyday routine instead of changing their lessons to work with the technology. Adaptation is when the teachers and classes start to integrate into the lesson plans in a more natural way. While the traditional classroom activity were still prominent in the classrooms, the technology started to work it's way into the lesson plans and activities. Appropriation is not really a phase that must be passed but more of a state of mind that the teachers and students came to where the technology started to become an effortless part of everyday learning. Finally Invention is when the technology is used to create something completely different within a normal lesson plan. This is when the teachers and students start using the technology to create assignments and to lead them in new paths. The book suggested that these steps should be taken incrementally if technology is suddenly added to a classroom.
I had several notes that I made along the way while reading this chapter. A lot of them were looking at my view of technology and how I started my elementary school in an environment where computers did not exist and we slowly started integrating computers into the learning atmosphere. I looked at some of the problems that teachers faced in trying to do this and wondered what my teachers faced in this very unstable time. I also looked at how I viewed technology and the comments made about integrating it into a world where technology didn't exist. One thing that I noted immediately is that change of any kind takes time, it is not something that can happen overnight. Also new things are hard to accept, especially when it is something as new as technology was. Another thought I had was that on page 34, there was a note about how teachers enter the profession with deeply held notions about how to conduct school. On this I wondered why schools have been so different then other professions over time? I would never go to a doctor's office that still looked like an office from 1950, so why should our schools look the same? While older individuals might hold tight to those older ideas of school, why are the younger generations holding tight? In the Adaption portion - the teachers were amazed by what the computers could do and the students attention was held by the computers - in those days, computers were not household items, no one had email and Facebook accounts and smart phones. These computers were probably the only ones these students ever encountered. Of course they were fascinated by them. Today, 3 year olds have iPads and 3rd graders have cell phones - are computers still holding the same fascination today as then? Another question I always have is that if people could see how successful these ACOT programs were immediately, then why didn't more people buy into it earlier? Even today the idea of technology is not fully accepted in education, even with all it's success. This study allowed teachers time to get use to the technology and integrate it into their classroom, this is not a luxury that many teachers are given these days. Today they are given the new technology on a Friday and expected to fully integrate it on Monday morning. They don't have time to break in the technology slowly.
These are just some thoughts I had on this chapter as I read.
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